


Stuck on the Ground

by hernameisgeorge



Series: Down 'Verse [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cas needs a hug, Fluff, M/M, Post-Sacrifice, Pre-Slash, Spoilers For Episode: s08e23 Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-03
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2017-12-28 07:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/989135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernameisgeorge/pseuds/hernameisgeorge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Castiel woke up, he knew three things. One, he had done it again. Two, his head was quiet. And three, the angels were falling from the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prepare for the sadnesses.

When Castiel woke up, he knew three things. One, he had done it again. Two, his head was quiet. And three, the angels were falling from the sky.

The carnage continued to light up the sky until the early hours of the morning, and Castiel didn't sleep for a second.

At dawn, he left the forest where he landed in search of civilization. He soon found himself in a small town. He spent nearly ten minutes trying to pinpoint his location before realizing he would have to do it the old fashioned way.

He didn't have much luck. Most people assumed he was just drunk, one man even going so far as to direct him a diner for a place to sober up. Eventually, however, someone took pity on him and told him he was in Douglas, Wyoming.

If his memory could be trusted, he was roughly 430 miles from Lebanon as the crow flies. It would take him about two weeks if he walked.

He could call for a ride, but he doubted Dean would want to see him just yet.

Suddenly there was a loud noise. Startled, Castiel looked around to see if anybody else heard it. When it seemed that nobody had, he realized that it was just his stomach. Of course he would have to take care of his ve- his body's new needs.

After a few minutes of wandering, he came across the diner the man had told him about earlier.

Later, with his stomach full, Castiel began his journey east.

* * *

Two weeks of diner food and sleeping in homeless shelters (and the occasional ditch) later, Castiel found himself in familiar territory. In his relief, his legs finally gave out. He managed to get back up long enough to hitch a ride the rest of the way.

He thanked the kind woman who drove him to the road leading to the bunker and somehow summoned enough strength to make it to the door. It swung open just as he raised his fist to knock.

"I'll be back, I just have to get-" Dean froze when he saw Castiel standing there. "Cas."

"Hello, Dean," Castiel said.

Dean looked him over. "What happened to you?" He didn't sound pleased to see him.

"I...I'm human."

"Yeah, I get that, but why do you look like you walked all the way here?"

Castiel tilted his head to one side. "Because I did."

"Why didn't you call?"

"I didn't think you would want to see me."

Dean scoffed. "Well you were right about that." He turned around and walked right back into the bunker.

Castiel followed him. "Please, Dean. Can we talk about this?"

"Talk about what, Cas? How you didn't trust me? Or do you want to talk about how you nearly beat me to death, then healed me and vanished without a word? Maybe we could have a chat about what you were thinking going off on your own like that?"

Castiel calmly waited until he finished. "I wanted to apologize."

"For what part?"

"All of it," he said.

"Yeah, well it's not going to work. Not this time."

"I want to fix this, Dean. What can I do to-"

Dean cut him off. "You can't fix it this time, Cas! You always leave, and you think you can just come back whenever you want, and the worst part is that I let you. Then you leave again. And you have no idea how much it hurts every time you do.

"But I always let you back in! I've had to put up with a lot of shit from you these last few years, but I forgave you. I forgave working with Crowley, I even forgave you trying to be God. You always get another chance, because it's you! But I can't do it anymore, Cas. You pushed too far this time."

"Dean, please-"

"You can stay here until you're back on your feet, but after that..." He ran a hand through his hair. "God, I don't even know. I just can't be around you."

Castiel nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry though, Dean, I truly am."

"You're always sorry."

"Want me to find him a room?" Kevin asked, poking his head in the room.

"Yeah, thanks, Kevin," Dean said. "I've gotta get some groceries." He stalked back out of the room. Castiel flinched when he heard the door slam.

"C'mon, Cas, let's get you settled in."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fixed the sadnesses! Kind of. There's a rickety rope bridge over the chasm of sads. I'll have to come back later to build a sturdier, stone bridge, but some people can get over this bridge. It's good enough for now.

Dean groaned when shouts woke him up in the middle of the night. Someone was having a nightmare. Again. He was halfway down the hall before he stopped to figure out who the hell it was.

The voice was too deep to be Kevin's, and not nearly girly enough to be Sam's (heh), so that meant it must have been Cas. Dean spent the next couple of minutes debating the pros and cons of just going back to bed.

On one hand, he could actually get a full night's rest. On the other hand, Cas wouldn't. And he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again with all this racket.

And then Dean had to consider the fact that he was still mad at Cas. But was he really? He'd told Cas as much, but if Dean was honest with himself as he so rarely was, his heart wasn't really in it. He was pretty miffed though. Was that enough to ignore nightmares? Probably not.

Screw it.

Dean headed to the room Cas had picked out. He tried not to think too hard about the fact that it was the closest to his own room, if you didn't count Sam's.

He opened the door and quickly made his way over to Castiel's bedside, shaking him awake.

"C'mon Cas, you're having a nightmare. Wake up."

Suddenly, Cas flailed and fell out of his bed and onto the floor, taking Dean with him.

"Shit!"

"Dean? What are you doing on the floor?"

Dean grunted. "I was trying to wake your sorry ass when you attacked me."

Cas looked around, taking in his surroundings. "I'm sorry. I must have been dreaming."

"Yeah, I got that. Can you get off me?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry, Dean." He quickly got up and sat back down on his bed.

"What else is new?" Dean muttered as he stalked towards the door.

"Dean, please wait."

He stopped and turned to face Cas. "What?"

Cas furrowed his brow. "I don't..."

Dean sighed and looked around for a chair. There wasn't one. Of course there wasn't. He settled for sitting on the edge of Castiel's bed. "Do you wanna talk about it? The nightmare, I mean."

"No, I can barely even remember what happened. Something to do with Me-" He paused and took a deep breath. "Regardless, I don't want to talk about it."

Dean nodded. He knew that tune. "Well if there's nothing you want to talk about, I'd better get back to bed." He started to get up, but stopped when Cas grabbed his wrist.

"Please don't go. I..."

"What, Cas? What could you possibly say that would make this better?"

"I'm scared, Dean. I used to be an angel, but now I'm just human, and I don't know what I'm doing. I need your help."

"Cas..."

He continued like Dean hadn't spoken. "And I know I really messed up this time and that you can't forgive me, but please don't turn me away, Dean. I already lost my brothers. I can't lose you too."

And damn if that didn't make Dean feel awful. His best friend was thrust into this fucked up situation without any bearings, and here he was acting pissy.

He put a hand on Castiel's shoulder. "I can forgive you, Cas. Maybe not now, but I can forgive you. Until then, I'm here for you, 'cause you need a friend right now, and I'd be a huge dick to deny you that."

"Thank you, Dean. I don't deserve this."

"Oh I know you don't. But I'm giving it to you anyway, like I always do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I thought that after this, I'd be all caught up and could move on to posting the first two that I wrote, but this story just got all out of hand. Originally, the first part would have been Cas finding his way to the bunker, and the second part was supposed to be him adjusting to being human. Unfortunately, I accidentally made feels happen and I had to fix those before anything else and it just deteriorated. Cas adjusting got pushed back to the next story.


End file.
